US reporter Steve Centanni, 60, and his cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, from New Zealand arrived at their beachfront hotel in Gaza City to tears and embraces from their colleagues.
"I am really fine, healthy, in good shape and so happy to be free," Mr Centanni told the Fox Channel.
The two men had spent 13 days in an abandoned garage in the Gaza Strip as captives of the Holy Jihad Brigades, which had demanded that all Muslim prisoners be freed from US jails, nine days after they were taken.
Walking into their hotel, Mr Centanni dissolved into tears, describing his ordeal as a “trauma.”
"I'm so happy to be out because there were times I thought I was dead and I'm not," he told CNN by telephone.
Forced to convert
The kidnappers forced the two men, at gunpoint, to convert to Islam.
"I have the highest respect for Islam, but it was something we felt we had to do because they had the guns and we didn't know what the hell was going on," Mr Centanni said.
Hours before their release, Fox News received a videotape showing the pair reading lines from the Muslim holy book the Koran, a process of the conversion.
"I changed my name to Khaled. I have embraced Islam and say the word Allah," Mr Centanni said in the video.
In the first few hours of their capture both men were roughly treated by the kidnappers. They were forced to lie blindfolded with their hands tightly tied behind their backs in a deserted garage. They were not allowed to speak to one another.
Mr Centanni said that when they were first brought to that abandoned building, "I thought 'Oh God... I'm toast... they'll shoot me so no one can hear'," he said.
Late they were forced to write out their life history and answer numerous questions as to what they were doing in Gaza and their previous jobs overseas, including in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.
Freedom welcomed
In New Zealand the family of Mr Wiig and Prime Minister Helen Clark welcomed the release of both men. Mr Wiig’s relatives said they first heard of the release on television.
"This moment now is just wonderful for us," his father Roger said.
"There is an Arabic saying - one day honey, the next onion. This is a honey day, it really is. It's been like that for us, up and down, and that's been hard because there have been moments when we have been promised so much and then, we've had gaps and disappointments and delays."
Mr Wiig had already called his family, "We've been glad to hear him, to hear his voice and his concerns straight away. His first comment was he was sorry he had put us through that," his father said.
In a statement Ms Clark praised the efforts of the Palestinian authorities in winning the men’s freedom.
"Today's release would not have been possible without the wholehearted support and hard work of the Palestinian authorities, and we are extremely grateful for their efforts," she said.
A White House spokesman said the US President welcomed the release. "The president is pleased the journalists were released and will soon be reunited with their entire families and colleagues," spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
Fox grateful
Mr Centanni and Mr Wiig’s employer, Fox News, said it was grateful for the release of the men.
"We're very grateful for the safe return of Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig and we'd like to thank governments and individuals throughout the world who aided in securing their release," Chairman and CEO, Roger Ailes said in a statement.
"The entire international community is beginning to realise that journalists should never be hostages or pawns in world events. Their job is to tell the story of the world as it unfolds," the statement added.
Not al-Qaeda
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, who met with the two men after their release, says the mysterious kidnappers were not linked to global network al- Qaeda as had been rumoured.
"I don't think that the kidnappers had any relationship to al-Qaeda," he told reporters. "They are not aAl-Qaeda and they have no connection to al-Qaeda."
Speculation had been rife that the group may have had connections with Osama bin Laden’s network because of the unusual nature of the demands – in previous kidnappings demands were made to the Palestinian Authority rather than to foreign governments.
Security officials and the hardline Popular Resistance Committees, which took a leading role in negotiations for the men's release, insisted that the abductors did not receive anything in return.
Police chief Allah Hosni said the group freed the men when it realised that it was about to be discovered and vowed to punish the perpetrators.
"Any kidnappers of reporters... will be punished sooner or later," he said. No arrests have yet been made.
Continue working
Mr Centanni urged his fellow international reporters not to be put off working in Gaza by their dangerous ordeal.
"I just hope that this never scares a single journalist from coming to Gaza," he said.
It was a sentiment echoed by Mr Wiig: "That would be a great tragedy for the people of Palestine and especially for the people of Gaza.... you guys need us on the streets and you need people to tell your story," he said.
Militants killed
Meanwhile, four Palestinian militants have been killed in the Gaza Strip, the latest by Israeli fire close to the Karni crossing east of Gaza City, Palestinian medics said.
Two Palestinian militants from the Hamas movement were killed by Israeli fire earlier on Sunday, hospital and security officials said, including one during an operation near Karni.
Hamas's armed wing has confirmed that the first two men killed where its fighters. An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed there was a military operation at the Karni crossing.
Earlier, two Palestinian television cameramen were seriously wounded by a missile fired by an Israeli helicopter. Fadel Shanaa of Reuters TV and a cameraman from the Palestinian Media Group were wounded when the missile hit their armored jeep, hospital officials said.
A woman and a child were also wounded in the attack, the officials said.
At sea off the Gaza Strip, a fisherman was seriously wounded by fire from an Israeli gunboat. An Israeli spokeswoman said warning shots had been fired because the Palestinian boats were too far from shore.
Gaza fishermen have been forbidden from taking to the sea because of fears they could be involved in arms trafficking.